Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Yankees most irrelevant in quarter century.

Yankee record a quarter of a century ago:
1989 74-87 .460, 5 of 7, 14.5 back
1990 67-95 .414, 7 of 7, 21 back
1991 71-91 .438, 5 of 7, 20 back
1992 76-86 .469, 4 of 7, 20 back

July 30, 1990 late owner George Steinbrenner was banned for life, only to be reinstated in 1993 by new commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig.

Remember those days? The New York Yankees have not just become just another team. The Yankees have become irrelevant. The Yankees are no longer feared. The Yankees are no longer hated. The Yankees are irrelevant.

The Yankee record in 2016: 40-42, .488, 4 of 5, 7 back

Not so bad, right? Nothing like 25 years ago? But this Yankee organization has no foundation. Who are their prospects? Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino. Not bad but not great.

And the active players are almost all well past their prime. The best Yankee batter in 2016 is 39 year old Carlos Beltran, who is pushing soon (July 27) to be 41 year old Alex Rodriguez to the bench because neither can stay healthy doing much more than batting.

From the ashes of a quarter of a century ago came Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera. Where are those types of prospects today?

And veterans from other teams augmented those foundational players: Paul O'Neill, Jimmy Key, Tino Martinez, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, Orlando Hernandez, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, A-Rod, Gary Sheffield. From the last championship team of 2009: Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia, two aging veterans who have little more to contribute.

The previous post addressed stats of the 30 teams without mentioning the Yankees much at all. That's because the Yankees are neither terrible nor terrific. The Yankees are blah and boring. The Yankees are not much of a threat and they are not in position to draft significant young players. The Yankees have been in a downward spiral for years as described in this blog, with little hope in sight. The Yankees cannot buy their way out of their depressed condition.

Part of it is the system. Part of it is ownership. Part of it is management. And a big part of it is we fans, who have allowed ourselves to be deluded and fleeced for way too many years.

It would be easy to absolve the fans but that's never correct. We support too many lame promotions and merchandising schemes. It's time for fundamental change but that's very unlikely either from the fans or from team decision makes.

And the fans of the other teams don't care. Once, to be a true champion, a team had to defeat the Yankees. No more. Now all that's required is to defeat the Kansas City Royals.

Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle are rolling over in their graves.